Tolerance cannot be measured in terms of degrees of intolerance. I am essentially opposed to burning books even when they incite others to violence. But freedom is either an absolute or it is conditioned on not inciting others to violence. Anything else is rationalized bigotry.

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Shas - Misunderstanding Compassion.

Shas leader Aryeh Deri is a part of the
disconnected mind set within ultra-orthodox society. On the 24th of
June 2013 it was reported that he pleaded with the Knesset to have compassion
for the sector he claims to represent.He used the
word “rachamim” which translates as mercy.In fact it is more than that; it is a religious concept that denotes
giving for the benefit of one who is less fortunate than oneself.In the Kabbalah "rachamim is the sense
of true empathy with the other's soul in his present life situation”.

He went from pleading to threatening.He excoriated the Knesset for reducing the
stipend of the more extreme, divisive sectors of Israeli society. He associated
the withdrawal of money previously provided to the most implacably anti-unity
sections of society to a violation of human rights; as if calls to civil
disobedience, murder and civil war by some leaders of the Haredi community were
not in contravention of the compact between the individual and civil society.

As a member of the Israeli parliament, the
Knesset, MK Aryeh Deri even threatened to take the government of Israel to the
International Court of Justice because he does not agree that his sector of
Israeli society should share the pain of economic hardship with the rest of
Israeli society, as if somehow, they are privileged by the abuse they heap upon
us. But then, abusive relationships are characterized by the asymmetrical
nature of the relationship, with the abuser insisting, they act by right.

In spite of all the banner headlines referring
to Israel ‘the Start Up
Nation’ there is widespread poverty in Israel. According to the report
released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in May
2013, Israel
is the most impoverished of the world’s thirty-four economically developed
countries. Israel has a
higher percentage of poor people than Mexico
and Turkey.
Even economic basket cases such as Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, at least
in the poverty stakes all of these nations do considerably better than Israel
where greater than one in five people are living in poverty.

The trend is for an even greater percentage of
the world’s poor to be lifted out of poverty.Across the globe more people are joining the middle classes and leaving
poverty behind them.In part this is due
to the globalisation of the international economy but also nations such as China and India are recognizing that in order
to maintain stability they need to be able not only to create wealth but to
also sustain it across an ever increasing percentage of the total
population.But in Israel the
impoverishment of the middle classes is destroying their aspirations without
yanking the lower classes out of poverty and into the middle classes. No longer
is there shame attached to Yeridah (literally it means descent) or emigration. With
no hope for the future there is increasing dissatisfaction with government and
a significant brain-drain. For those that have no other choice than to stay
put, lack of trust lowers a people’s respect for the rule of law.

Where is the fear that rules the Ultra-Orthodox
constituents of MK Deri? It is in the shackles that bind the poor to the
parties that benefit most from the maintenance of relative poverty. Let me
explain why.A person without the means
to earn a living is inexorably and inextricably bound to their community.The Ultra orthodox community has an
employment take up rate, for its men, of about 48% (2011) - the remainder are
financially supported by the state and by their community which is in turn
supported by donations from wealthy donors abroad.

Under such circumstances the possibility of
leaving the community or changing ones lifestyle in order to improve ones
economic situation is limited.A life of
religious coercion is as much of a trap for the Hasid as it is for those people
who do not necessarily want to continue to religiously identify to the degree
that they currently must in order to qualify for the assistance of their
communities.

A faith community that can only survive on
government handouts has no ethical right to demand acquiescence to their
religious vision because it cannot base its demands on mutual respect. The beggar
who demands a wage for standing on a street corner is forever trapped in a
cycle of poverty and extortion and that does not create harmony; over time it
can only destroy it.

The threats of MK Deri were indicative of his
failure to understand that the state could no longer afford the social model
that his party helped to create.It is a
model predicated on the belief that increased social hand-outs in exchange for
Torah study is sustainable in the long term; that wealth redistribution to an
ever widening circle of religious families can be supported by the commensurate
productivity gains of those ever fewer secular families who pay taxes.

But Deri’s greatest failure is in his
misunderstanding of the mood of the people. Ultra-orthodox pronouncements
express ever greater levels of contempt for secular society and blatant
disregard for the moral obligations of his constituency towards the society to
which they look for financial support.His
constituency is increasing its threats to murder Haredi soldiers, and more
focus is now being spotlighted on the escalating violence perpetrated against
women; but barely a word has been spoken against either issue, by the ultra
orthodox community because guidance has long ceased to be based on ethics.
Rival tribal allegiances are a fertile breeding ground for violence by
reactionary bigots.Look at the terror
that is a characteristic of the religious intolerance of the Muslim World. The
threat to Israel
is greatest in its disunity but government has failed to recognize and tackle
this issue.

If the most famous slogan of the American
Revolutionary War was “no taxation without representation” then in Israel it is
time that “no representation without taxation” became part of the Haredi
community’s understanding of their responsibilities to society.